On Sunday, we held our final Choosing a Focus Town Hall meeting.  Thank you to everyone who has participated in this process so far!  The turnout has been good and the discussion around these topics has been wonderful.  It has been amazing to share with you something that Session and I have been working on for quite some time.  It has been even greater to hear you all get fired up and excited by the ideas we are putting forward.

With that said… we only have 67% congregational participating rate at this point!
The goal I set was for 80% participation.
That means that we need 7 more Northminster people to participate.
​
While we have a clear preference for our #1 idea, two ideas are tied for our #2 spot. In order to complete this step in the process, we need a clear second choice.

Therefore, I am asking those who have yet to participate and vote to join in the process!  It doesn’t matter if you live close by or far away; it doesn’t matter if you attend frequently or infrequently, it doesn’t matter if you are an official, card-carrying member or just a part of the wider Northminster community: if you are invested in the future of Northminster, we want to hear from you!!!

In order to (hopefully) achieve the goal of 80% participation, I am extending the process 2 more weeks.  HERE and on our website is the Choosing the Focus Presentation.  If you have not yet done so, please read through it.  The presentation includes:

1. Background of how we got here
2. An explanation of the process and how to use the rubric
3. Explanations of the four proposed ideas
4. And an explanation on how to vote.

​Feel free to walk through this process yourself or reach out to me if you want to discuss it with someone.  And if I don’t hear back from enough folks, I will begin reaching out directly asking folks what they think.

Once this process is done, we will tally the results, share the top two ideas, and schedule a congregational meeting to discuss and vote on which of these two will be our ministry focus moving forward.

Again, thank you to all of you who have participated so far.  I have added in many of the suggestions that have been discussed in the town hall meetings thus far.

Blessings,
Pastor Chris

Hello fellow heathens, apostates, and sinners!!
If you are reading this, then you have officially missed the Rapture that was predicted on social media to have taken place on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2025.  This means that a few things could have happened:

1. You were left behind to experience the trials and tribulations to come while “true” Christians were beamed up to heaven.
2. Jesus took one look at this world and decided that none of us were good enough to Rapture up to heaven.
3. The Rapture, as a theological idea invented in the 1830’s, is being used once again to instill feelings of fear and/or self-righteousness in people.

I have spoken about the Rapture in sermons before.  I largely consider it to be “Christian Fan-fiction,” Christian propaganda, and a tool of control.  It is used to get believers to abdicate responsibility for the state of the world because they are about to be beamed up to heaven and Jesus/God are left to punish those who made life on earth miserable. It is used as a fear tactic to often used by authoritarian pastors get people with questions or doubts to “fall in line” with their teachings or be “left behind” for the trials and tribulations.

However, repeatedly, throughout scripture, Jesus states that no one knows the time or place of the coming of the Son of Man… not even Jesus himself!  The Apostle Paul reiterates that Jesus will return “like a thief in the night.”  By the witness of scripture itself, the one way to guarantee that the Rapture won’t happen on a particular day (apart from the fact that the Rapture has no Biblical basis) would be to predict that it would happen on a particular day.

As I have stated before, I have stopped wishing for and a believing in the end of the world.  I now advocate to look around every day for how Jesus has come again that day.  Every time that someone apologizes for the harm that they’ve caused, Jesus has returned!  Every time that someone works to repair a relationship that has been broken, Jesus has returned!  Every time someone feeds the hungry, shelters the homeless, or gives hope to the hopeless, Jesus has returned!  Jesus has returned again and again and again, if we only look around us.  With that in mind, we have work to do: The Kingdom of God won’t build itself “on earth as it is in heaven” without us getting our hands dirty.

So - what can we do?  Well, if you haven’t yet, please attend one of the Town Hall Ministry Focus discussions.  We will be discussing various way that we can reach out into the community and make Jesus return to people’s lives yet again.

The next one will be THIS THURSDAY, September 25th at 7 pm on Zoom.  (Check your email for the link.)

The last one will be after church this Sunday, September 28th in the lounge.   Even if you haven’t signed up, please come anyway.

So, I hope you have a wonderful post-rapture day.   And may you see Jesus in the faces of others and in your own actions.

Blessings,
Pastor Chris

As September is the PCUSA's Season of Peace, I thought I would discuss with you all a new term I recently discovered: Stochastic Terrorism.

Britannica.com defines the term thusly:

“stochastic terrorism, the repeated use of hate speech or other vilifying, dehumanizing rhetoric by a political leader or other public figure that inspires one or more of the figure’s supporters to commit hate crimes or other acts of violence against a targeted person, group, or community.” source

In order to create peace, we must understand all forms that violence takes.  So, let’s create a scenario to explore this term further:

• Billy is known on the playground for being mean, but he is only mean with his words.  Billy never hits people or pushes them.  For the past few weeks Billy has been picking on Tim.  Billy tells all of his friends that Tim is smelly and that he doesn’t think anyone should play with Tim at recess.  Slowly, other kids stop wanting to spend time with Tim at recess, in the lunchroom, or in the classroom. 
  
  A few days ago, the whole class got in trouble and lost 10 minutes of recess.  While the whole class was at fault, Billy blamed Tim for it, saying that it was all his fault for not following the rules.  The other kids believed Billy and were angry at Tim.  The next day, Billy made a comment that Tim really deserved to be hit, or kicked, or pushed down to pay for what happened the day before.  Other kids listened to Billy and agreed that someone should make Tim pay for his alleged wrongs.
  
  At recess later that day, Garrett pushes Tim off of the jungle gym in anger, and Tim gets hurt.  Garrett gets in trouble and is sent to the counselor’s office for being violent towards Tim.  However, Billy should also be held responsible for what happened to Tim because he repeatedly villainized Tim and remarked that someone should hurt Tim.
  
  While Billy was not directly violent towards Tim, Billy created a situation where someone else was likely to be violent towards Tim.

Billy engaged in stochastic terrorism towards Tim.

We often have kids memorize the singsong saying, “Sticks and stone can break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”  However, words can and do hurt people.  Words may not break bones and words alone cannot shoot guns.  But when people string words together it becomes rhetoric.  Rhetoric influences people’s beliefs.  Repeated rhetoric changes what is normalized.  Norms shape acceptable behavior. What is acceptable influences whose actions we see as violent and whose actions are justified.

When politicians and newscasters villainize immigrants, it becomes acceptable to treat migrant workers inhumanely, putting them in camps and cages.

When talking heads valorize gun ownership as a sacred right, the 304 mass shooting in 2025 so far becomes acceptable collateral damage, (source).

When government officials turn the Palestinian people into a caricature of a terroristic people bent on eliminating the Jewish people, the starvation, bombing of civilians, and genocide of the Palestinian people is seen as necessary.

When the rich villainize the poor and the disabled as unworthy leeches on the system, people happily accept the violence of denying assistance and healthcare to the most vulnerable people in our society.

When city officials describe homeless individuals as violent drug addicts, the community cheers when the police destroy homeless encampments and imprison the homeless. 

• While I saw many people this week condemning all political violence, I was struck by the political violence carried out by systems we have put into place.
• Arresting migrant workers without warrant or trial is political violence.
• Refusing to pass gun legislation while gun violence continues is political violence.
• Bombing Palestinian civilians is political violence.
• Refusing to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza is political violence.
• Allowing people to die because they cannot afford healthcare or were kicked off government healthcare is political violence.
• Imprisoning homeless individuals for the crime of being poor is political violence.

And the people who vocally support these policies - be it government employees, elected officials, news reporters/anchors, talking heads, podcasters, etc. - are engaging in Stochastic Violence.  They may not be the ones that were personally engaged in the violent act, but they used their rhetoric assuming that someone else would.

Blessings,
Pastor Chris

Dear Northminster,

September is "off to the races" and already zooming by!  So, let us talk briefly about what is coming up.

This Sunday, after service, is our All-Committee Meeting at 12:15 in the Lounge.
Lunch will be served and then we will hear the Pastor’s report, Treasurer’s report, and Session’s report before breaking out into individual committee meetings.
 
In the following weeks, we will have a series of town-hall style talks to discuss choosing a ministry focus.  These talks will be around 45 minutes and will have time for discussion and voting for your favorite ideas.  These town hall meetings are open to everyone in the Northminster community, regardless of membership status.

The Town Hall meetings will be on:

• Wednesday, September 17th at 10 a.m. in-person in the lounge.
• Sunday, September 21st online on Zoom at 2 p.m.
  Meeting ID: 837 0501 4543
  Passcode: 796880
• Thursday, September 25th online on Zoom, at 7 p.m.
  Meeting ID: 813 3547 9669
  Passcode: 998799
• Sunday, September 28th, at 12 noon in-person in the lounge.

​We hope that everyone can attend one of these town hall meetings.   If you are unable to attend one of these town hall meetings, but you still want to look at the presentation and vote on your favorite idea, please let me know:  I am happy to email you the presentation to look at.  I also plan to record and upload one of the Zoom meetings to make it available for a limited time on YouTube: youtube.com/@troynorthminster.

Thank you to everyone who has already signed up to attend one of these meetings.

Blessings,
Pastor Chris

Welcome Back!
Happy September, everyone!
​
I hope everyone enjoyed their summer months.
And what better way to begin the fall than by a "Welcome Back" Barbecue?
Well, folks, you are all in luck!  As I assume most of you know, this Saturday, September 6th at 5:30, we are lighting up the grill under the pavilion for our Welcome Back" Potluck Barbecue.  Hamburgers and Hotdogs will be provided by the Community Connections team.  Everything else is provided by YOU!

So, bring a side, dessert, or drink to share!
And thank you to everyone who has already signed up with what they plan on bringing.
While there are picnic tables for everyone to use, feel free to bring a camping chair to sit in.

When you arrive, feel free to park along either side of the driveway.
Thank you to the Building and Grounds team that ensured that the trees and underbrush were trimmed back to allow for easier parking.
 
Lastly, we encourage everyone to reach out to folks you haven’t seen in a while and make sure they are coming as well! Invite a friend!  Call a neighbor!
This is an opportunity for the community to gather.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask by emailing or calling myself or Suzanne in the office.

Blessings,
Pastor Chris